ebXML and UBL

The ebXML suite of specifications, many of them now standardized as ISO
15000, provides a complete XML-based infrastructure that enables EDI
functionality over the free Internet. UBL provides a standard data
format for the messages to be exchanged in such an infrastructure;
however, UBL is designed to be agnostic with respect to the
infrastructure, and UBL messages can be used in a very wide range of
functional contexts, from complex service-oriented architectures (SOAs)
to the simple exchange of documents via email.

The impetus to begin the OASIS UBL Technical Committee came from the
desire of a number of ebXML participants to define a standard XML
payload format for ebXML — that is, an XML counterpart to traditional
EDI standards such as X12 and EDIFACT.

ebXML Core Components

UBL is the first international standards body implementation of the
ebXML Core Components Technical Specification (CCTS 2.01, aka ISO
15000-5). The UBL library consists of ebXML CCTS Business Information
Entities (BIEs). UBL XML schemas are defined through the application of
UBL Naming and Design Rules (NDRs) to an underlying data model mapped
to the Core Component types.

The OASIS UBL Technical Committee is also currently working with
UN/CEFACT to converge the UBL library with the emerging UN/CEFACT Core
Component library.
UN/CEFACT is the international agency responsible for trade
facilitation and EDI standards. Together, UN/CEFACT and OASIS
developed ebXML.

Consistent with the Cooperation Agreement between OASIS and
UN/CEFACT of June 2005, a collaboration statement has been issued by
OASIS and UN/CEFACT that states: